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Thursday, May 8, 2014

~ His Haven ~

His Haven

The Redemption Series: Book
One

Thank
you for having me here on your blog today! The other day, I was
asked by a reader to confess who my favorite character was in my newest
release, His Haven. That should be a tough question. All of the
characters are like my children. I created them. Unlike a mother of multiple
children, I will confess that I do have a favorite. But who is it? Do you think
you could guess?

Promise me you won't tell the others, but my favorite
character is Lysander Douay, Avrum's mysterious, silent friend. I think I like
him the most because he appears indifferent about everything, but inside, he is
tortured by it all. He's a character that, while creating him, I was like: “Let
me choose the most terrible thing to put this man through” and I did. But even
after all the heartache, the death, and the torture, Lysander still tries to do
the right thing behind the scenes. He wants no recognition for it. He is a
silent hero. His tragic past is only touched on in His Haven. But guess
what? He gets his own story! Lysander will be the main male in the series'
second book—Patterns in the Ivy—and you are one of the first ones to know it!

Want to know
more about Lysander, his debut, and the other characters in His Haven?

BLURB:

Ignorance isn’t always bliss…

Handsome and diligent Avrum Brenin should have died in the fire
with his mother and older brother. Instead, he is saved by the powerful and
wealthy immortal, Lord Henri. Placed under his care, Avrum shares in his world
of endless splendors. He must do one thing in return—look after Haven, a human
and Lord Henri’s newest rescue.

The simple task proves to be more complicated than it seems.
Haven is disobedient, ungrateful, and hostile, yet she is beautiful and mystifying
at the same time. One night, when Avrum stumbles across Haven barely clothed
and bound at the wrists, the world he has trusted in unravels before his eyes.
He soon discovers that no one—from Lord Henri and Haven to his closest friend,
Lysander—are who they seem to be.

Now faced with the truth, will Avrum choose to surrender to the
man who rescued him, or will he have the courage to save the woman who
captivated him?

Paranormal/Historical Romance Heat Level: Sensual

EXCERPT:

Maybe I can’t do this on my own…

“Help me,” she told him, realizing it was her only real
option. “Help me leave… You can help me now. Together, we can get to my father
and we―”

His disheartened expression made her stop.

“You can never go back to your father,” he said. “It will be
the first place Keagan and Henri will look for you.”

Terror made her mind race and her hands tremble. There had
to be a way for her to get out. “You can bring me and my father somewhere
safe,” she blurted out in desperation. “Please, there has to be some way. I
can’t stay here.”

Avrum’s eyes drifted over her shoulder to where the manor
laid quiet and still. He inhaled. “You have been bitten,” he said.

Haven took a slight step back.

“I saw the wounds when I found you,” he replied to her
perplexed look. “Your blood is now entangled with Henri’s. For as long as they
are together and flowing through his veins, you will be connected to him. He
will know where you are, no matter how far.”

She gasped, her hand flying to the place on her chest where
the two pierce wounds laid underneath. “How do you know this?”

“It is something we all learn when we are first changed.”

“Have you ever killed?” she asked but then hesitated. She
wasn’t sure if she wanted to know the answer to that question.

“No,” he replied. “I have taken blood from humans before,
when I was first turned, but I have made sure to never harm any of them. Now, I
drink from a stock supply of human and animal blood in the manor cellar.”

The thought of consuming a person’s blood made Haven
nauseous. “Can you ever stop? Never drink it again?”

Avrum let out a short laugh. “I have asked the same
questions,” he said. “I still have to be reminded that I am no longer like you.
I cannot stop the drinking because I am no longer fully alive. The living blood
replaces what I have lost during the change.”

“What are you, exactly?”

“We are called vampires.”

She couldn’t speak. She had never heard the name before, but
for some reason, it made her voice freeze in the pit of her throat.

“With your blood still coursing through Henri’s veins, you
can be tracked. I need to get you back to the manor before he wonders where you
are and realizes you’re gone.” Avrum held out a hand to her. She stared at the
open palm with wide, fearful eyes. The skin there glistened against the amber
lights of the manor windows. It was marked with faint scars. Each one seemed to
overlap the others.

“We keep the scars we have earned as humans,” he told her,
as if reading her thoughts. “I have many of my own to bear.”

For some reason, his words made the warmth
in her chest grow even more and the pains in her body ease. She stretched her
own hand out, the raw and marred marks around her wrist standing out against
the paleness of her skin.

Avrum offered her a tender smile―a smile that told her that
this time she wasn’t alone. “Come back with me,” he told her. “I will protect
you with everything I am. I swear it. Please…”

Haven hesitated for a moment, their hands hovering close. In
the space between them, all her doubt and fears lingered. Could she really
trust him? He was one of them after all. A vampire.

She sucked in icy night air and, taking a step
forward, placed her shaking hand in his.

Praise for His Haven:
“His Haven is a fantastic mix of historical and paranormal romance… Action.
Romance. A touch of horror. You can’t put this book down.”–Cynthia Carole, author of the Cedarville
Novella Series

“Exciting and suspenseful… sweet and hot all at the same time. I
recommend that anyone that loves books about vampires read this and you won’t
regret it.”–Crystal
N., Reviewer from SSYL

“Ms. Brooks has started a story of other-worldly
magnitude where adventure and secrecy filled the pages. Twist and turns ran
amok as the author delivered angst, love, friendship and intrigue.”–Evelise, Reviewer from S.E.X. Reviews

Harper A. Brooks lives in a small town on the New Jersey
shore. Even as a young child, she has surrounded herself with good literature,
so it is no surprise that her love for reading and writing has expanded into
all parts of her life. She is a dedicated softball coach, student, teacher, and
friend who enjoys writing about fantastical worlds when she believes real life
gets too mundane.